In an oversaturated market, competition has never been so fierce.
There are hundreds of thousands of businesses just like yours vying for the same customers.
And with all the cut-throat competition, it is not enough to just have a website.
In this day and age, you need a website that looks good and communicates quality information to build brand awareness and showcase your brand to potential customers.
So I think it is safe to say that your bottom line is greatly affected by the appearance and usability of your website.
In fact, according to an eye-tracking study conducted at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, users take less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression when viewing a website.
So, if your website is lacklustre or not performing the way you want it to, maybe it’s time for a website overhaul.
Follow the tips set forth in this post to build a striking business website and increase your chances of succeeding in the online marketplace.
Table of contents:
1. Common Signs of an Underperforming Website
Before you jump in and start making major changes to your website, you should take a step back and analyse your site’s performance.
However, do note that there are dozens of website KPIs you can track, and there’s no one-size-fits-all metric.
This means that your most important metrics can only be established after you’ve defined your website goals (for example, you may want to drive more traffic to increase website conversion rates, drive more traffic to partner pages, etc.)
That being said, let’s have a look at the most common KPIs you may need to analyse to see how well your website is performing.
- Bounce rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of people that leave your website without taking an action, such as making a purchase or clicking on a link.
A high bounce rate (typically above 55%) indicates your visitors didn’t find what they were looking for, your on-page content didn’t meet their expectations, or your on-site experience was too confusing to determine them to take action.
- Website traffic
Website traffic refers to the number of users who visit your website.
Typically, low website traffic is a signal that your site isn’t optimised for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
However, you can also experience low website traffic due to thin content or poor User Experience (UX).
- Click-through rate
Click-through rate (CTR) measures the number of users who click on a specific ad or link after seeing it.
As a general rule, a click-through rate of 3% is considered satisfactory.
However, to determine whether your click-through rate is high or low, you should consider the performance of your competitors for a specific keyword (meaning that a click-through rate of 3% doesn’t help if your competitors have a click-through rate of around 6%).
If you have thousands of impressions and just a few clicks with great conversion rates, then it’s likely a sign that you’re targeting the wrong audience or you’re not persuasive enough to convince users to take action.
- Lead conversion rate
Your lead conversion rate (or website traffic lead ratio) indicates how many of your website visitors convert to leads.
According to Unbounce, the average landing page conversion rate for SaaS companies is 3%, while other pages have conversion rates ranging from 2% to 12%.
Most of the time, a website is generating a low number of leads when visitors can’t find what they need. If you have high traffic but low conversions, then it’s likely a sign that your site design is outdated (e.g., poor navigation, poor filtering and sorting, etc.).
- Pages per session
Pages per session is the average number of pages a visitor views when exploring a website.
When a person views multiple pages on your site, it means they’re more engaged with your content.
A drop in pages per session may indicate that your content falls flat. This means that users do not appreciate it enough to stick around and convert.
Low pages per session could also indicate that your content is confusing visitors. For instance, if visitors can’t make heads or tails of your website while floundering around and wondering what to do, they’ll leave.
Long story short, there are plenty of warning signs that a website isn’t generating the desired results.
If your site traffic is having a hard time or you’re unable to convert visitors, it’s important to ensure the situation doesn’t snowball. This means that you need to identify the glitch and put a strategy in place to get back on track.
So, without further ado, let’s explore some effective techniques for transforming your site and improving the user experience.
2. 5 Tips for Building a Great Business Website
- Have a clear content hierarchy
Content hierarchy is the strategic placement of the information on each page of your website.
A good rule of thumb is that you should put the most important content at the top of the page and the least important at the bottom.
If you don’t establish a clear content hierarchy, then you’re likely going to end up placing less relevant information at the top of the pages.
Ask yourself, “If visitors could only see one piece of content on my website, what would I want them to know?”.
Answering this question will help you determine your content’s level of importance.
- Put your contact details above the fold
Way too often, business owners operating from home are afraid to put their contact information on their websites.
They do not want customers to know where they live or do not want phone calls at home after hours. Does this scenario sound familiar?
If you’re only providing a contact form on your website, you risk losing credibility and sales by making people search for contact information. Not to mention, people tend not to trust contact forms, so most of the time they don’t even bother completing them.
That’s why providing a professional business address and landline number is key to building credibility on your website.
If you’re operating from home on a tight budget, you can make it easy for potential customers to find you by getting a flexible virtual office.
An all-inclusive virtual office package provides you with everything your business needs to make your website more credible, from a permanent business address in a premium location to a 1300 or 1800 business number, and beyond.
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
According to Search Engine Land, more than 60% of all searches come from mobile devices.
So, the number one reason why you need a mobile-friendly website is that your prospects are using their mobile.
Sounds obvious, yet there are many ways a website may fail Google’s mobile-friendly test.
For example, a seemingly mobile-optimised website can fail Google’s mobile-friendly test because the site is using a font size that it’s too small for mobile devices.
Or, the clickable elements are too close together (meaning that when users tap on a button or link, they also tap the neighbouring elements).
Remember, the ideal font size for mobile screens is 16 pixels. You also need to ensure that your website’s important buttons have a height and width of at least 7mm (or 48 CSS pixels).
- Create skimmable content
Before reading a piece of content, users need to make a quick decision – Is this worth my time?
People are hungry for snackable content because the global attention span is narrowing.
Most users read on their commute or while waiting in line somewhere, and are only interested in skimmable content – that is, easy to read content that enables them to quickly understand the topic covered.
This blog post is a good example of that.
As not all of its sections may be relevant to you, I’ve made it easy for you to find the nuggets that matter most by splitting the post into sections and creating a hyperlinked table of contents.
To create super skimmable content and increase its readability, be sure to make use of white space. It will help you strike the right balance between your content and design elements and improve your site’s visual experience.
- Enhance credibility
As I have previously shared, providing your business address and phone number on your website helps you increase trust and conversions (see tip no. 2 – Put your contact details above the fold).
However, there are other ways to enhance the credibility of your business website, such as including testimonials, ratings, reviews, case studies, etc.
For example, B2B HQ is providing real-life examples of how our virtual packages help small businesses build reputation and gain more customers while keeping overhead costs low (you can read our case studies here).
By having case studies on your website, you help potential customers understand what your product or service can do for them, while also enhancing your website’s credibility.
Reviews and testimonials are also important for building credibility – especially if you display them near the bottom of your site’s pages.
This is because a user who is scrolling that far is more likely to appreciate your content and the trust factor plays a significant role as they become more engaged with your website.
Conclusion: Getting visitors to stay on your website and make a purchase, subscribe or sign up seems like it shouldn’t be that tough to do.
However, there are billions of websites out there. This means that users who aren’t finding what they need on your website are just a Google search away from other websites that could better meet their expectations.
That’s why you need to ensure you build a memorable, attention-grabbing website.
Apply the tips set forth in this post to ensure your website visitors get engaged and quickly take action without a second thought.
Looking for ways to improve your website’s credibility and generate more hot leads for your business? B2B HQ would be glad to provide you with a prestigious business address and a professional phone number to make available on your website. Set up your virtual office in less than 24 hours and enjoy a wide array of benefits in one affordable and neat package!
